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CHAP. IX.
Of the Air, and Earth.
OF the Air thusa 1.1 Iulius Firmicus, The Assyrians ascribed the principality of the Elements to the Air, the Image whereof they worshipped, stiling it by the name Venus the Virgin; whom the Quires of their Priests worshipped with effeminate voices and gestures; their Skin smoothed, and their Habit after the fashion of Women.
As for the Earth,b 1.2 Macrobius saith, They worshipped the superiour Hemispear of it, in part whereof we dwell, by the name of Venus; the inferiour Hemisphear of the Earth they called Proserpina; More of this Mythology, rather Phoenician than Assyrian, and perhaps more Graecian than either, see in Macrobius. Thus much concerning the Doctrine of the Chal••aeans.